A Unique Way to Market Your Handmade Jewelry Locally
Hi all! I'm going to make this post rather brief since we're heading out of town again this weekend. This time to Washington D.C. I hope to be able to check out some boutiques that carry handmade jewelry and, possibly, talk to some store owners to get some new marketing ideas. I'll let you know what I come up with. I won't be posting tomorrow, but will try to follow up with you on Sunday.
Today, I'll give you a break from the online marketing information and tell you about a unique idea for marketing your handmade jewelry and design services locally.
I know that many of you do custom designs. If not, it's something to consider. The manager at our bead store has his own business doing custom jewelry designs. The response has been so great that he has a waiting list of customers requesting necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. You definitely need to charge a premium for custom designs since it's more labor intensive and may require that you order special beads or findings. It also helps to have a portfolio of color photos of your work to show customers so they can visualize and communicate to you what they want you to design.
Anyway, the idea for marketing your custom design jewelry service is this:
1. Start by making a list of boutiques and small clothing stores, hair salons, bridal salons, and gift stores that sell handmade jewelry.
2. Construct a card that describes your custom jewelry design service. I would make the card about double the size of a standard business card. Purchase a card holder for your new card from a Staples, Office Depot or other office supply store.
3. Gather together your newly designed card, portfolio, and standard business cards to take along with you to the stores listed in #1. I would make an appointment before approaching store owners out of courtesy to them. They're often busy and may not have time to meet with you if you approach them randomly.
4. After showing the shop owner your portfolio, let her know that you're willing to do custom work for her customers that may be looking for something for a special occasion or one-of-a-kind piece. Offer to give the shop owner anywhere from 10-20% of what you charge the customer for any design work you do through her store.
This idea will likely appeal to the shop owner. She probably has lots of customers who come in and are unable to find exactly what they're looking for in the jewelry department. If that customer walks out the door without buying anything, she's lost a sale! You're giving her a second chance to offer the customer EXACTLY what the customer wants. Plus, it makes her boutique seem even more exclusive if she offers such a custom design jewelry service. It just may be a win-win situation for each of you.
Bridal store owners could potentially be an excellent source of orders for you since many brides need jewelry made for her entire wedding entourage. This can be quite lucrative and lead to many more orders by word-of-mouth. This is also a good niche market on which to focus. Brides and their bridesmaids always need jewelry and often want something uniquely special that they can't find in the stores.
I hope this idea is fruitful for you! I'm going to sign off now and get ready for tomorrow's trip. In the meantime if you'd like some good ideas for selling handmade jewelry at shows, take a quick look at this ebook. It's full of tips and ideas for selling more handmade jewelry at shows. It also comes with three bonus books, one of which shows you photos of successful jewelry show booth setups. A good read. :-)
See you Sunday!
Kristie
Hi all! I'm going to make this post rather brief since we're heading out of town again this weekend. This time to Washington D.C. I hope to be able to check out some boutiques that carry handmade jewelry and, possibly, talk to some store owners to get some new marketing ideas. I'll let you know what I come up with. I won't be posting tomorrow, but will try to follow up with you on Sunday.
Today, I'll give you a break from the online marketing information and tell you about a unique idea for marketing your handmade jewelry and design services locally.
I know that many of you do custom designs. If not, it's something to consider. The manager at our bead store has his own business doing custom jewelry designs. The response has been so great that he has a waiting list of customers requesting necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. You definitely need to charge a premium for custom designs since it's more labor intensive and may require that you order special beads or findings. It also helps to have a portfolio of color photos of your work to show customers so they can visualize and communicate to you what they want you to design.
Anyway, the idea for marketing your custom design jewelry service is this:
1. Start by making a list of boutiques and small clothing stores, hair salons, bridal salons, and gift stores that sell handmade jewelry.
2. Construct a card that describes your custom jewelry design service. I would make the card about double the size of a standard business card. Purchase a card holder for your new card from a Staples, Office Depot or other office supply store.
3. Gather together your newly designed card, portfolio, and standard business cards to take along with you to the stores listed in #1. I would make an appointment before approaching store owners out of courtesy to them. They're often busy and may not have time to meet with you if you approach them randomly.
4. After showing the shop owner your portfolio, let her know that you're willing to do custom work for her customers that may be looking for something for a special occasion or one-of-a-kind piece. Offer to give the shop owner anywhere from 10-20% of what you charge the customer for any design work you do through her store.
This idea will likely appeal to the shop owner. She probably has lots of customers who come in and are unable to find exactly what they're looking for in the jewelry department. If that customer walks out the door without buying anything, she's lost a sale! You're giving her a second chance to offer the customer EXACTLY what the customer wants. Plus, it makes her boutique seem even more exclusive if she offers such a custom design jewelry service. It just may be a win-win situation for each of you.
Bridal store owners could potentially be an excellent source of orders for you since many brides need jewelry made for her entire wedding entourage. This can be quite lucrative and lead to many more orders by word-of-mouth. This is also a good niche market on which to focus. Brides and their bridesmaids always need jewelry and often want something uniquely special that they can't find in the stores.
I hope this idea is fruitful for you! I'm going to sign off now and get ready for tomorrow's trip. In the meantime if you'd like some good ideas for selling handmade jewelry at shows, take a quick look at this ebook. It's full of tips and ideas for selling more handmade jewelry at shows. It also comes with three bonus books, one of which shows you photos of successful jewelry show booth setups. A good read. :-)
See you Sunday!
Kristie
posted by Your friends at Beads Indeed | 3:02 AM
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